Separators for electrochemical cells

Abstract

Provided are separators for use in an electrochemical cell comprising (a) an inorganic oxide and (b) an organic polymer, wherein the inorganic oxide comprises organic substituents. Preferably, the inorganic oxide comprises an hydrated aluminum oxide of the formula Al2O3.xH2O, wherein x is less than 1.0, and wherein the hydrated aluminum oxide comprises organic substituents, preferably comprising a reaction product of a multifunctional monomer and / or organic carbonate with an aluminum oxide, such as pseudo-boehmite and an aluminum oxide. Also provided are electrochemical cells comprising such separators.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 773,487, filed Feb. 15, 2006, entitled “Methods of Preparing Separators for Electrochemical Cells,” by S. Carlson, et al., which is incorporated herein by reference. This application relates to two U.S patent applications, entitled “Microporous Separators for Electrochemical Cells” and “Methods of Preparing Separators for Electrochemical Cells,” both by S. Carlson et al., and both filed on even date herewith, which applications are incorporated herein by reference.STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT RIGHTS[0002]This invention was made with government support under Grant Number DE-FG02-02ER83542 awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The government has certain rights in the invention.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0003]The present invention relates generally to the field of porous membranes and to the fields of electrochemical cells and of separators for use in electrochemical cells. More particularly...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides a method for making separators for electrochemical cells that have high porosity, high ionic conductivity, good strength, and flexibility. This is achieved by using organically-modified inorganic oxides in the separators and various mixing, coating, drying, delaminating, and laminating methods. The drying step involves drying at a temperature greater than 150°C, which increases the tensile strength and percent elongation of the separator compared to drying at a temperature of 140°C or less.

Problems solved by technology

Reducing the thickness from 20 microns to 15 microns or less greatly increases the challenge of providing high porosity and good mechanical properties while not sacrificing the protection against short circuits or not significantly increasing the total cost of the separator in each battery.

Typically, lowering the porosity to increase the mechanical properties also reduces the ionic conductivity.

This trade-off between high conductivity and good mechanical properties is a challenge in providing separators that are less than 25 microns in thickness, especially for those that are less than 15 microns thick.

A key feature of the separator in the electrolyte element of lithium-ion rechargeable batteries is that it has a small pore structure, such as 0.5 microns or less in pore diameter, and sufficient mechanical strength to prevent the lithium dendrites from contacting the cathode and causing a short circuit with perhaps a large increase in the temperature of the battery leading to an unsafe condition.

When the separator material is a polyolefin material that has non-polar surface properties, the electrolyte materials (which typically have highly polar properties) often poorly wet the separator material.

This results in longer times to fill the battery with electrolyte and potentially in low capacities in the battery due to a non-uniform distribution of electrolyte materials in the electrolyte element.